NFL Honors 2012: 5 Potential Bridgestone Play of the Year Winners

Tonight the NFL will be giving out their season best awards and the league's first NFL Honor awards show. They will go through everything, from MVP, Coach of the Year, Rookie of the Year and even things like Best Play of the Year.

That last one is interesting, as it typically is just something they mention on SportsCenter, but this yer somebody will actually be honored by the league for their accomplishment.

Who is going to take the cake? Here are some of the top plays from this past season that could easily be up to win.

5. Dwayne Bowe is the Positive to the Football's Negative

If you don't understand that analogy, that is magnet talk. That is because when Bowe made this catch, somehow the ball just found its way into his arms.

Jacob Lacey did all he could to stop this from happening, but it just wasn't enough to slow down Bowe's pursuit of scoring and helping his team get back in the game.

4. Randall Cobb's Barrel Rolls onto the Scene

In the Green Bay Packers' first game of the season against the New Orleans Saints, second-round draft pick Randall Cobbs was put on return duties. Well, he made the most of his chances to show what he can do, as he returned a kickoff for 108 yards to give the Packers a big lead.

The most impressive part of the whole play was Cobb's barrel roll over the Saints tacklers.

3. Devin Hester Runs into the Record Books

The Chicago Bears have one of the greatest kick returners of all time in Hester. This season, he took it even further by returning his 11th punt of his career in the team's Week 4 matchup against the Carolina Panthers.

This likely won't be the end of Hester's reign of terror, but team's have to learn to just not kick to him.

2. Victor Cruz Shows His Circus Skills

With the New York Giants down by five in the fourth quarter, quarterback Eli Manning was looking to take the lead. With Cruz in double coverage, it was a pretty stupid pass, but boy did it turn out to be amazing.

The ball first gets tipped by the Seattle Seahawks, and then it bounced off of Cruz's hand, to only eventually land right into his palm. After that, he had no other choice than to take it for a score.

1. Jerome Simpson Shows Us His Best Olympic Impersonation

Will anything top this play? Unlikely, it just doesn't seem possible.

When rookie quarterback Andy Dalton was looking for a score, he found Simpson out on the outside. While it looked like he ran into a potential obstacle, some part of Simpson's mind decided to flip over the defender.

Somehow, he actually managed to stick the landing.

Stay tuned for tonight's awards to see who takes it home. Maybe it will be one of these, or perhaps a surprise contender will win.

Jeff Chase is a Featured Columnist for the Chicago Cubs and Arizona State football.